SSA or Bisley grip and why?

Mark-II

Mark-II

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I'm getting interested in a 44 Magnum Super Blackhawk.

I've never shot a revolver with a Bisley style grip, but it's always interested me.

In a 44 magnum, shooting moderately hot cast bullet loads, which style grip frame would you feel is the most comfortable to shoot - the classic SAA style or the Bisley?

I've big hands and long fingers, so the lower hammer spur isn't really a selling point

And is the 10 inch barrel version mostly ostentatious or has it any practical advantage over a 7.5 in terms of getting all of that powder burnt?

I know my 6.5" 357 leaves a lot of powder on the floor
 
I had a 4.5" blackhawk and the 7.5" bisley blackhawk both in .357mag. I actually found
that the bisley had more felt recoil and did not like the grip at all compared to the standard one.
For me right at the start of the odd hump all the recoil centered right at that point. I tried it several times and
just could not get used to the shape. I now have two 6.5" standard blackhawks which i truly enjoy for target and CAS.
Perhaps i am the exception since i thought the bisley was better for recoil.
 
Probably best to stick with what I know, then, rather than pay more for the Bisley. I've no issues with the standard grip. I just tend to always be looking for something different.
 
Just thought i would add this, I was new to single action revolvers when i got the bisley so had no prior experience with either grip.
I was used to shooting double action revolvers mine being a Gp100 i thought the bisley would be an easier transition to single actions but i found it to feel even stranger than the standard saa grip which i have got used to and quite like.

Im sure somebody who loves their bisley will chime in
 
I did come into a different understanding of how to properly hold an SSA recently. Prior I felt the navy grip was too small for me, for example. Now I choke up until the hammer spur just about touches my web, catch the trigger with my first knuckle, and things flow well. The harder kicking ones roll in the grip rather than taking the arm for a ride now.

I suppose there might be a reason other than cosmetics why all of the big bore Magnum Research and Freedom Arms guns retain the SAA grip...

Wish I knew of someone who owned a Bisley that I could try..
 
Bisley grip translates recoil different for me, more of a roll in my hand than a snap, I have larger hands and with the saa grips my pinky dangles. Im very happy with the bisley. I get great wrap and find it very easier to manage recoil, I shoot a custom ruger bisley hunter with a 5.5 inch barel and shoot full power 300 grain loads through it with no ill side effects, if you can get over the way the grip looks im sure you will find it quite comfortable to shoot. enjoy
 
With the SAA grip the pinky is supposed to sit under the butt for lack of anywhere for it to rest on the front of the grips. When I started out this felt odd so I choked up on the gun as Mark II describes above. But when I did that the gun shot strongly to the left and I had to twist my hand way around the grips and into a pretty unnatural hold to correct that. Then I moved my hand back down so the web rested on the turn of the back strap and my pinky sat neatly under the butt of the stocks. This also fixed my reach to the trigger and made the gun feel far more comfy in my fairly large hand. And once I adopted this method the POI matched the POA without any need to twist my hands around to any sort of unnatural grip.

What the pinky does when it's down there is index the gun after it rolls within your grip when shooting strong loads. Or if you're shooting light mouse fart loads it at least let's you know that it's in the right position.

Now for the bad news. For strong loads and for those of us with larger size hands the classic size of stock grips tends to be somewhat small around the neck just behind the trigger guard. So the hot loads tend to rotate the gun too much in our grip and in some cases (google for "dragoon bite") the gun leaves the back of our saluting finger battered and bruised.

The fix for me was a set of fatter necked custom grip scales that I made. Now I can shoot the hottest .44Mag loads without fear of dinging my saluting finger. And this is despite shooting these loads one handed.

Sorry but I can't help out on the Bisley style. I've never been given the chance to hold one let alone shoot such a gun with that style grip.

As for the longer barrel there would be some gain in velocity. Also the longer sight baseline would show you the slightest error in the sight picture. But I've found that even trying to hold a 7.5" barrel to a steady sight picture is already hard enough. I don't need a longer barrel to make me think I've developed palsy or some other ailment.... :D

If we were allowed to hand gun hunt up here the longer barrel would likely really shine for the extra 100fps or so it would provide as well as giving more barrel to support in a tree or bush notch while the shooter takes aim through a handgun scope. But we aren't allowed such things so for me I just think it is too much of a good thing. I find that a 7.5" is pretty much the best of the bunch.

Your unburned powder won't burn in a longer bore. Some powders are just like that. Something about the pressure wave spits some of it out before the flame front hits it or something like that. A longer bore would simply move the impact point of the particles a foot or so farther downrange.
 
Thanks very much.

My grip leaves my wrist cocked very slightly down, and the but comes nicely over the bit under my thumb. Seems to work for me anyway, and I can set the hammer with less theatrics than with a lower grip. I'm always experimenting, however. I mean, the only two guns I have with the same grip are 1911s.

I shot the .357 today, doing some load testing. In reality it's probably as much excitement as I need. Kicks like a 45 colt but more sharply, makes a racket, and is fun. I'm not sure how badly I actually need a 44 at this point, considering also the cost to get set up to reload it..

It seems to like both 4227 and 2400 for cast 158 cowboy bullets, in fairly stiff charges. I might try lil gun in the future.
 
Well, I couldn't resist. There was a 10.5" Stainless SBH at the show today and I had to buy it after a brief fight with my conscience.

Got a friend who loves big guns. She's already keen to have a go. Perhaps I'll splurge on a box of store ammo. She's tough lol
 
Mark-II said:
I'm getting interested in a 44 Magnum Super Blackhawk.

I've never shot a revolver with a Bisley style grip, but it's always interested me.

In a 44 magnum, shooting moderately hot cast bullet loads, which style grip frame would you feel is the most comfortable to shoot - the classic SAA style or the Bisley?

I've big hands and long fingers, so the lower hammer spur isn't really a selling point

And is the 10 inch barrel version mostly ostentatious or has it any practical advantage over a 7.5 in terms of getting all of that powder burnt?

I know my 6.5" 357 leaves a lot of powder on the floor
Click to expand...

First, a .44 Super Blackhawk does not use a SAA grip frame, neither does a Blackhawk which uses a XR3RED modification to the SAA grip frame which pushes the grip frame back so that the middle finger has more room between the frame and the trigger guard.

The Ruger "Bisley" frame is an up sized and improved version of the Keith No5 grip frame which was a cross between a Colt1860 army front strap, and a Colt Bisley backstrap.l (with some cutting, welding and bending of course).

I shoot a SAA (XR3 ruger) and Ruger Bisley grip frame. For whatever reason I cannot accurately shoot an XR3RED grip frame.

Beg/borrow or rent 1 of each and shoot them to determine what works the best for you.
 
Mark II, if you find that you're getting "dragoon guard bite" on the back of your middle finger look at having a new set of grip scales made that are similar to these. In this case they fit my L to XL glove size hands (choice depends on fitment of each brand of glove but I've got moderately big hands regardless of how you cut it) while giving me a great grip on the gun. With these fatter neck area grips I have a much better grip as you can see from how my strong hand thumb wraps around without overlapping my fingers too badly. With the extra support area the gun doesn't jump as far back with heavy loads and I have not had "dragoon guard bite" since making and installing these. There's the "filler" grips from Pachmayer and Hogue but I find that they make the classic single action lines turn rather chunky and ugly. So I did up these scales as a last ditch trial before giving up and going with the fill in grips. But these are working so well for me that I have no intention of buying rubber stuff now.

And by the way, the high grip shown in the picture with the hand isn't how I do it anymore. I tried it but as I said above the gun wanted to put the bullets well over to the left when held this way. And it was oddly crowded getting my trigger finger into the guard. As soon as I dropped my hand down a little so the pinky can stretch and reach under the bottom the reach to the trigger felt a lot more natural and the sideways shot placement moved back to a nice natural center group without any hand gripping gymnastics and with a natural trigger pull.

A lot of folks will suggest that SA style plowshare grips like this are so natural and fall right into the hand. I say Horse Pucks! The SA and SAA style guns I've got took me a lot of trial and error, heavy on the error part, to get to where I was able to shoot them well. I always got good groups mind you, just not to where I was aiming. But it's all good now and I really enjoy them.

grips4.jpg


SBHgrips1.jpg


And in this last shot you can see how much fatter these are. But note too that I made the lower portion skinnier so my ring finger didn't seem to be reaching around as far. It also makes getting my pinky down under the grip easier. I need to round the lower edge from the side to the bottom since it's a little sharp on the pinky during recoil.

grips5.jpg


Plans for the next set are to follow this design but the right side will have a rounded finger groove that lets my pinky reach under without rubbing on the lower edge. I'm also going to try running the wood further down and cut back so the pinky sits on it's own rest. This should look pretty funky when done... :D
 
X2 on the trial and errors part. Those are some nice looking grips. I'm not handy with wood (you don't want to see the knife handles I made), so I'll have to see what the aftermarket holds if necessary.

I'm going to be shooting cast loads, so they won't be screamers.
 
You'll be fine with the stock scales in that case. Even up to the lower "starting" loads from the .44Mag loading data the stock scales are fine. It was only the full power H110 loads that had the back of my middle finger screaming for a solution.
 
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